When you want to capture a full-body image, such as in fashion photography or couples-portraits, you will use the portrait format.Īnother example is where you’re photographing a large and tall object. Portrait photography is not the only genre to use this orientation. To overcome this, you might compose your image so that the subjects face is off-centre and looking towards the empty portion of the composition. While you can shoot portraits in landscape orientation, and many photographers do, the composition balance can feel off. As we’ve discussed, the human face and head sit more naturally with the portrait composition as they are taller than they are wider. The first and most obvious one is portraiture photography. The genres of photography that commonly use portrait orientation are very simple to remember. Portrait photography means holding your camera so that both it and the image are taller than they are wider. When to use Portrait Orientation in Photography Let’s take a closer look at when to use portrait vs landscape orientation. Or, when photographing a broad, wide subject in portrait, it will feel like the subject is trying to bulge out the sides of the composition. The subject will appear to be compressed – the flow of the image will be interrupted by excess space to each side of the subject. Of course, there’s no right or wrong decision, but there are some excellent rules of composition to follow.įor example, photographing a tall subject in landscape mode won’t be as pleasing to the eye. With practice, you’ll learn which to choose for the best balance and composition. Others will look better when captured in landscape mode. Some subjects that you photograph will sit better within a composition that uses portrait format. The decision to shoot in portrait or landscape should be the first basic rule of composition to think of when taking photos. It all depends on the intended purpose of the image and how you want to compose it. This approach makes the mountains the most prominent element in the image and achieves a nice balance to the composition.Īs we’ll discover, there are better ways to both create and view photographs and video. This way, you capture less of the sky and foreground above and below the mountain range. To capture as much of the best parts of the scene as possible, you want to hold your camera in landscape orientation. Generally speaking, the elements of a landscape are much broader than they are taller.Ĭonsider you’re viewing a winding river (see: s curve photography tips) or mountain range with a pale blue sky above and empty fields in the foreground. Like your television that sits horizontally, the top and bottom edges are longer than the sides.

Landscape refers to the orientation of the camera used when photographing subjects such as natural landscapes. Note that taking portraits of living subjects isn’t the only application of this orientation and it can be creatively used on all kinds of objects and scenes. As a result, these combined elements make the head more tall than wide and thus more suited to portrait orientation.įraming your face within a portrait is going to look much more natural and will be best framed to ensure the image appears balanced. When photographing a head-shot or portrait of a face, you generally include the neck, face and hair. Imagine your head – it’s going to be taller than it is wide. In this case, the subject is taller than it is wider, and as a result, your photo will turn out the same way. Portrait is when the frame of the image sits vertically – i.e, the side edges are longer than the top and bottom edges.Īs the name suggests, one of the ideal uses of portrait orientation is for shooting portraits of people. Let’s take a closer look at each of these in more detail and how they apply to photography. In photography, the concept of portrait vs landscape is much the same. Another way to think of it is that it sits horizontally rather than vertically – in which the sides would be longer than the top and bottom. Regardless of your television being an ultra-widescreen or not, it’s a rectangular shape that has longer edges on the top and bottom compared to the sides. Each of these devices has a landscape orientation. What’s more, they’re also used when it comes to printing photos or even just using your household printer to print a document.Įven looking around your house, you’ll no doubt have a television and a computer monitor or laptop screen. The terms portrait and landscape have existed in photography since it began.

Portrait vs landscape